So I just got back from Sky Diving, and wow, what a ride!! That was by far one of the craziest and coolest feelings. We got up at 7:00 to be picked up from the company, but when we got down there, we found out that because of the rain they were going to cancel the beach site that we were scheduled for, however we were able to rebook and go on the Cairns site which is located in the middle of the mountain range, both very cool options. So Dave and I switched over and drove quickly to their headquarters to get suited up. By this point we were a little late so we had to rush through to get everything taken care of. We got to the building and filled out all of the “sign your life away” paperwork and signed a bunch of forms. They then brought our harnesses out and strapped us up. The harness is essentially a rock-climbing harness and has the same cut off circulation feeling. We then spent about 1 minute talking about the form for falling out of the plane and then we were shuttled into the bus and off to the airport. It was a pretty efficient process to say the least. A few minutes later we arrived at the airport and were standing outside of our plane. It was raining lightly so we had to wait around for a few minutes before it passed over. We were then given the go ahead to board the plane and before I knew it, I was sitting on the floor of a plane on my butt with my feet essentially hanging out of the door. Now one thing I did not expect was the fact that there was no door, instead there was a hole in the side of the plane. Since I was the last of the four people to get on the plane, I got to sit right beside the opening for the entire ride. This was equally as cool as falling out of the plane. As we ascended, I got look right outside of the plane and see the mountains that we were about to fly over and the ocean beside them which lead to the Great Barrier Reef. Farmland then began to come into view and soon we were passing through the clouds. Looking out an open doorway from a plane in comparison to a window is entirely different. I could see the clouds passing right beside my feet and soon we were up above them all, with the sun the only thing in the sky. I wish I could accurately describe what the clouds looked like; it looked like the surface of Antarctica, huge snow-like mounds with a magnificent light blue sky. Now this entire time going up, I was not yet attached to my instructor. So essentially I could have just leaned over and fallen out, there were no handles or seat belts to hold us in, just the floor, walls, and an open door. As we were going up, my instructor then told me to put my hand outside the plane. For those of you how might now, I love the put my hand out my car window as I’m going down the highway and ride the wind, well this was about 1000 times stronger and cooler. As we neared 14000 feet, the height in which we were jumping (which is equivalent to a 60 second freefall) we started to attach ourselves to the instructor. Then before we knew it, it was time to fall face first through the door. I was second to fall and I don’t even think I had time to think about it. The first person fell through, I was shoved to the front, I had about 5 seconds to stare down at the clouds beneath me, and then I was thrown through the opening. The rest of the dive is hard to describe (luckily I got the DVD so I can show it to everyone back home) but essentially the best way to describe it is that you are falling through a cloud. That’s something you typically don’t do. You’re face is going in every different direction and the clouds come upon you quicker than you can imagine. All I could think about was the fact that I was getting down so much faster than it took to get up there. After 60 seconds, which feels like 15 seconds, the parachute is pulled and you are jerked a bit. At this point, I hear the instructor talking to himself “come on little guy, open up, open up, a little more, ok there we go.” I’m not sure if he always does this but I just tried to ignore it, assuming that everything was fine. The rest of the dive was then so surreal, we gently floated (although I’m sure we were still booking) down to our landing site. Around us were mountains on every side with the ocean peaking through between the peaks. What looked close to Lancaster county was directly below me and quickly we were about to land on one of the fields. As we were coming down, the instructor put his hand around me and started undoing one of the straps. Naturally, I began to slowly slide down. Assuming that he knew what he was doing I let him go, but still was quite unsure of what was happening. I later found out that in order to see for landing, he had to lower me a bit. The fact that I didn’t know this at the time really added to the adrenaline. I pulled my feet up and before I knew it, we were sliding along the ground on our butts, much like the position we were sitting in on the plane. And now I’m laying in my bed and going over the fact that I just jumped through a cloud. That’s awesome!! Anyway, so tomorrow I have a two day scuba trip and then the next day is Bungee jumping. Talk about ending Australia on a high note. I’m pretty sure I’ll sleep good on the plane ride home. Well now it’s time to play some sand volleyball, see everyone very soon!